 Hello, I'm here with one of my clients Laurie Howard. She's a member of my master heart program and she's a career coach And I'm gonna have her share some of the lessons. She's learned in building her coaching business And also she's gonna I'm gonna ask her to share some tips that she has been giving to her own clients about career transformation career change Laurie so great to have you here. Thanks George. I'm excited to be here. I appreciate The invitation. Yeah, absolutely. It's but you've been such a valuable Peer in our master heart group and so many people appreciate your your tips and your advice there and So, let me begin with your official bio I'm gonna reach out for everyone's for the context and then we'll get into some of the lessons you've learned in your business So Laurie Howard helps leaders and executives over 40 and I'm gonna ask you about that Laurie Why over 40 who want to avoid career burnout to discover a Way to to succeed and have a truly satisfying career through her unique system as a Certified executive coach and a career transformation coach She has worked with leaders and executives from a wide variety of industries to discover the work They love to do that. They're great at feel proud of and get paid what they deserve She helps people reinvent their careers with confidence and embrace who they are what they offer and where they thrive So beautiful beautiful. So over 40 you help you your bio says you help Over 40 why over 40? well, so typically what happens is Most of the clients I get who are over 40 tend to see themselves as a little a little bit differently than when they're in their 20s 20s or 30s they feel a little more scared of career transition career change It's usually prompted by different life changes than when they're a little younger I do have a few clients and they've had a few clients in their 20s and in their 30s But mostly it's Once someone past 40 40 is kind of the magic number where I notice people start worrying about age discrimination So that comes up a lot. They're afraid that they're too old to make a change They're afraid They've invested a lot in the career that they already have, you know They might have 20 years in a in a prior career or path want to make a change but don't want to give up sort of the status and standing they've already acquired or Or even kind of the salary that they were they're already working at It's a they perceive the career change to be a different process And if somebody is younger than 40, but are experiencing that kind of thing they can work here. Yeah Oh, yeah, absolutely. I have a couple of clients right now I have one who's in her 30s. She and her Partner just had a baby and so that was the thing that made her go. I Need her value started to shift and She wants a career that she is more passionate about and she wants to contribute to her household in a whole new way Got it. That's very good. So Let's I'm gonna have you share more career tips I think that's gonna be valuable for folks some of the folks listening watching this But let's get into some of the business lessons you've learned and you know, we were talking before Before the call and you've got you've got some ideas that you want to share you want to just go into it or yeah, sure So I really sat down and thought about this question And I think the biggest lesson I'm learned comes in kind of like a three-pack. Oh, yeah, great So it's follow your heart take consistent action and have systems to support you so when I first began the journey of Building and creating and managing my own business I was following my heart when it came to choosing what the niche is and to choosing who I serve and what I do for them And then I started to work with some business coaches and experts Especially experts in marketing and I started to listen to them and they without realizing they didn't know my heart They didn't know what moved me And so I would study with them and then I would start to shift the direction into something more logical what what extra More logical for a career coach to do and so I would try to follow their advice and then I get deflated My business would fail. I didn't want to compete like that And I as it turned out it wasn't really about the competition. It was that I had stopped following my passion so then I Have cycle and then I would get back kind of get back on the passion horse Connect with my heart and start again, and I would do that again And I've done that more times than I would care to number and I finally realized that When I follow my heart in terms of identifying the work that I do the people that I serve Who are the people I most want to help and what I want to help them with I am more successful So as part of that ebb and flow then it's it's not just though following my heart It's it's one piece of sort of one leg of the stool if you will So as part of that I would start dabbling in a variety of sales and marketing techniques each supposed to be the one And then one day I realized I was reading get clients now and I'd taken a program of that and one of the major takeaways I had was that mediocre actions taken Consistently will get you results while Super perfect actions taken whenever Doesn't get you anything And I know you said that quite a few times. Yeah And you reinforce that lesson quite a bit It's all about taking some kind of action consistently and I would so as I would try follow different marketing people I would get on one thing and I would try that and then it would or wouldn't work and then I'd be like Oh, here's the next shiny object. Let me try this one Oh here and because I wasn't sure what to do. So I would keep jumping and So now I have I need to follow my heart and take consistent action to pursue that Then I found that there was a third piece Which is something else that you talk about a lot is to have systems in place to support you now It's kind of funny to me because my whole other career is all about processes procedures systems I rely on them heavily for everything except I never put any in place in my business and so That's really I feel like Yes, it's following my heart have systems to support that path and then Also, just continue to take consistent actions along that path And there's three things I feel right now for me are kind of this magic concoction It's not one to the exclusion of the other and again systems are something that I just I Appreciate so much about you because you share you are very systems oriented and you share your systems and it helps Kind of for me. It's helped me kind of clarify exactly what I need to be doing and get that system my own system in place faster So I feel like it's those three together that make it all work And the real lesson for me is not each one of those but the collection of all three. I Love that. It's so great. So it's such a great Simple framework for for having an authentic and successful business. Yeah, totally agree with you follow follow your heart You know, we might I might say be authentic great the authentic your message To what you really believe Whether or not it Will necessarily please everybody in the world, but what you really believe say it what you believe is helpful to your especially to your I do audience. I love that and also be authentic. Like you say follow your heart interesting I would say follow your heart even in their systems, right? Like even that, right? You'd like to like you said even the systems you decide to to put into your business and K consistent action. I love that. You said mediocre actions taken consistently Produces results. I totally agree. I mean, this is why I talk about the whole Content being stage one two three like I'm consistently doing stage one content Which is by in my definition anything you put out there for the first time no matter how much you thought you worked on it is but in my definition stage one and Because you want to see the audience what what the reaction is to it and then and then improve it if they actually like the initial message You know the message. Yeah, um And and so maybe and the system of course, I believe in that so much I think everybody and whenever I teach systems. I always Try to remember to say listen. It's not about my system. Yeah, it's about taking what you see from me and and fitting it to your own Style, you know, but yeah It's interesting to me in that one I find that you know It is the follow you heart in all of the things and the actions you take and in having systems But it's I felt like before I would do will follow your heart and then I would be so led by my intuition I wasn't really having systems to support it. We're doing anything consistently like it felt kind of random for me. Yes and then There's great freedom for me in having this a really embracing this concept of mediocre Actions taking consistently gets results because it takes the pressure off. Oh, yeah, right. Yes, so Yeah, I really like that element. It makes it easier when I realize it doesn't have to be It doesn't have to be great. It just has to be out there, you know, take my best shot But it doesn't have to be my perfect shot. That's right. Yeah, I mean and I believe there's No such thing as a perfect shot. Yeah right because What I work on for hours and hours and dozens of hours I put it out there I am sure I look back on oh my gosh, I can't believe I missed this You know, I can't believe I didn't I didn't say it in as well of a way as I could have and there's always things that could be perfected And the reality is if we don't aren't consistent in our actions, we can't get more perfect over time Yeah, we'll get the practice of becoming more perfect. Yeah I think at the end people don't people I think today people want to work with someone who's a person Not a perfect profile Yes. Oh, yeah, I love that. I love that. Yeah So Do you want to do can you think of anything in particular where these three things apply in your business? I mean, there's different parts of business Yeah, I mean, I guess for me it kind of a plot And I guess I feel like it applies in a lot of levels one certainly following my heart means that I stay on track with the services I offer What exactly am I doing for clients and how am I doing that? For example, I will help people with their LinkedIn profile or resumes I am not the resume writer that you toss me your information and I crank out something and I send it back to you I do not work that way. It is a straight-up collaborative partnership. We work on it together So that by the time it's done It's it's in your voice. It's not in my voice. It's not my clever writing skills It's something that's where you were able to articulate your strengths your skills your passions your offerings in the marketplace Through this process of collaboration I do the writing but I Don't you can't just hand me stuff and if you're just looking for a job any job I am not the person for you. There are services out there who's Objective is job placement And get you into any job so that you can be employed. That's not what I do I help people find their passion career and then get work doing that But it's a it's a different thing So if you're just looking for a job to bring an income really quickly There are other services to help you do that and they are much better at it than I am So I feel like the follow your heart pieces for me making sure that I stick to what I love and the service I am strongest at and Then making sure that I'm up front, you know, you you talk about being authentic letting people know this is this is what I do really well This is not I also think that you know it also shows up for me currently in marketing At the moment a look that's a little bit more about being consistent being visible consistently and having systems Like everyone my health ebbs and flows life ebbs and flows Sometimes you have lots of time sometimes suddenly Something unexpected happens and you have to take care of that The systems protect you and for me systems give me this nice sense of security and safety are in a wonderful form of self-care in my business Because whatever else is happening. I have those to kind of hold me up and make sure that the thing I love Which is my business? There are certainly one of the things I love gets to keep going without me Worrying. Oh shoot. I didn't have a system in place and now I don't have time and feeling just like this this back and forth Yeah, excellent. Excellent. I love that Yeah, the other thing that occurred to me while I was answering that is that I also now do this with my clients I help them follow their heart regardless to their career take consistent action because you're not job the job you love isn't going to pop up in front of you if you don't do something and having systems in place because When you're actively looking for work Once you know what you want to do and you have a plan it can be somewhat Tiring and draining to keep going out and seeking so the system really helps with that Which I just realized while we were talking that I also apply it with my clients That's really great, and I want to talk a bit about your Well, you know leaders and executives over 40, right? Okay. What is something you've noticed? You have to say to a lot of them Because it's maybe it's whether it's obvious or not obvious You need to remind them of it or you need to clarify like you you find that a lot of leaders next of 40 forget About career their career career their passion career. I think There's a couple of things one usually the first thing I end up talking to them about is how many of my clients Grew up in terms of their first career or their you know in their 20s and 30s on this path of The goal was to have one career get a job in a company and move up If unfortunately your company was bought or sold or there was a merger You would still try to navigate that or you try to get another job at another company that had longevity And we're also sort of taught to seek that one great calling. I Don't think most of us get a straight up vocational calling I think some people do but I don't think most of us are fortunate enough to hear that you know that voice that says This is what you're meant to do forever. I think we're left with a bunch of strengths and skills and passions and that can change over time As can our values and so we have to it's up to us to figure out how that fits and How and if I could say even the people who said they got that one thing They might not be telling us the backstory of all the twists and turns It is it just it led to the year The time we look at their career. It looks so well matched, but it could have gone through all this Yes, that's very true because they didn't realize if that's what happened So I think so I would start with that and then I usually talk about statistics today so Currently the average number of years a person spends in a single job is between three and five so no longer is The you Job for a long time thing that is not the thing that employers value They value your ability to be flexible and adaptable which they perceive you can if you're changing jobs So it is normal to make a job change to support your career The other thing I also talked to clients about that normalizes things this career transformation concept Career change has become the new normal today the average number of careers a Person has in their lifetime and you figure your career doesn't really start with the earliest to your 20s, right? It's somewhere between three and seven so people will change careers between you know Two and six times in their adult life That's an average So if you think about that you could be changing your career once every 10 to 15 years and that's totally normal now and Changing careers is not changing jobs. You're talking about. Oh, I'm talking about a line of work. That's right Yeah, so you could shift to a whole new field You know you could go from working in a corporate world to running your own business Which is what I've done. You could then transition again into being an artist. You could it could be wild changes It could be slight shifts into something different But I'm not talking just a job change the normal kind of promotional or little shift Career change this concept of career transition is much more normal now So when people are afraid. Oh, what are people gonna hire me for you know? How are they gonna do that? Nobody's gonna hire me because I'm starting over that happens much more commonly now, so There's no reason to be afraid of that and people won't be surprised by it And I think if there's a third thing that I talked to clients about regularly right up front is Sometimes people are really happy with what they've been doing and then they can't figure out why now They're not so happy anymore and typically where that starts is our values Everybody when they think about getting a new career, they want to jump to the finish and go What can I do? Here's right? Here's my skills What can I do with those and they try to get a job and then they don't know why that doesn't work And they've skipped all the kind of internal work up front. First of all figuring out what's important to you now Which our values shift I believe over the course of our lives you have you get married You have a baby you get divorced you lose a parent You lose a loved one Things change us they change how we view the world and they change what our priorities are And that's okay And so you need to stop and check in and look at what you value as well as what the values are reflected in your career And in the organization you're working for and you can start to get a picture for Why it's not working for you anymore sometimes a field or an industry will kind of shift in a direction And we'll move in a different direction and suddenly You know, I had one client for him. It was a really straightforward. She just valued connection with people and she was an accountant and Accounting in her first five to ten years of working in that field Became very automated and computerized and so she never got to leave her desk and so the industry went one way and she was still over here and Just lost Until we sat down and figured out some new options for her and what else she really would love to do So and she ultimately became an event planner. So Well, yeah, it's so it's so helpful to hear that short story in that Options are there really more options for people than they often realize and working with somebody like you Who has seen many people have different options opens up a client's possibilities to say, you know, I Really can do anything. I set my mind to if I'm passionate about it and it really is a good fit for me, you know Yeah, thank you for for sharing these different tips, let's start wrapping up the call now And I'd love for you to share if somebody is Watching this and is going through a career change or know somebody who's going through career change What do you offer? What do you offer to your clients or how would you like to just yeah? So somebody's really considering a career change or feeling that sense of frustration unhappiness not really sure What they really want to do next or if they think they know they want to make a change But can't figure out how they're gonna get there from here. I Would recommend that you start by signing up for what I call a career clarity session where we spend time Really digging into your personal situation What it what you've been doing what's been working what's not been working and kind of delve into your personal goals and values and Objectives and look at what you need to do to change that And you'll come out of that call with a plan for how to start transforming your career Or if you find out that it's just a small change you'll have a plan for that Cool great wonderful And you also mentioned you have a you have a checklist on your website people can download Five steps to supercharger LinkedIn profile So I'll be sure to put a link in the notes of the video for that and there's also If you can share the link to schedule the career clarity session. Oh, yeah for sure Yeah, I will if somebody really is feeling like they just want to talk to someone and kind of start getting into some Figuring out what's going on and how to move forward. Yeah, that's great That's great, and I just had just one knowledge. There's a bit of background noise. I think actually on both of our sides I have some work going on outside the door Construction I believe in my backyard By the time you You know whoever's watching this by the time you schedule a call with Lori. Hopefully there won't be there This should be no it should be done by then So, thanks Lori for sharing your wonderful tips on business and career and it's great having you here Thanks, George. I appreciate it. Thanks